Improved process for preparing coffee



Y denser.

'half or three hours would be .better still.

,'UNITED .STATES e PATENT; OFFICE, f

Inn. Gannon WASHINGTON, DISTRICT on eoLUMBIA.

IMPRovl-:D PROCESS son ,PREPARlNe-'COFFEB Specilicaton forming part ot' `Letters Patent June 12, 1865. v

No. 48,268. aurea Jung 20,1865; aumenten y To all whom 'it may concern:

Beit known that I, L. 1). GALE, of Washington, District of Columbia, but now tempo# V lrarily residing in the city, county, and `State of NewYork, have invented a new and useful Improvementin the Preparation of Substitutes for Ordinary Ground Coffee; and I hereby declare that the following is a full and sufficient description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawin gs and references marked thereon, and making part of this description.

Thenature of the invention consists in extractingfrom roasted coffee all the soluble parts ofthe same, including the volatile arolna`con i tained therein, and putting therwhole into the formof av dense and solid" cake, thatmay be handled and packed Without being' inclosed in cans or their equivalents, and mixing the same with sugar or sugar and milk, in the manner hereinafter described.

ln the acoompanyin g dra win gs, A represents l a boiler for extracting the soluble parts of the coiee, B, the rst condenser C, the second condenser; l), the third condenser. In the workings I have found three condensersinore than is necessary, and' so dispense with condenser C, andconnecting b", the discharge-pipe of B, directly with the pipe b of condenser D.v The boiler is for distilling over the volatile aroma and dissolvingall that is soluble in the' coffee.

The water is chiefly condensed in the rst condenser at 1950 Fahrenheit. The volatile aroma, which is avolatile oil, is condensed at 85o inV the second condenser. being -too volatile to bel retained in thefirst condenser, which retains the vapor of water,

passes on tothe second condenser, which ret tains nearly thewhole of it. Either C or l)` may be used to'collect the aroma; but the-coil jbringing more of the aroma-'vapor in contactl with a cold surface, D is preferable as a con- Two hours are necessary to remove the principal part of the aroma. Two and av At the end of the boiling the contentsof the boiler ,are discharged frn the boiler, drained, and' pressed in any suitable press,and the boiler Vcharged anew, and the boiling repeated as be- .Y i fore. The pressing is repeatedl (adding a quart The aroma:

of hot water to the ve pounds ot coffee used indicate remaining strength in the liquor.

thermometer,or the instrument may be inserted in the vessel surrounding the condenser, but not shownin the drawing.

is thearoma, which is an essential oil dissolved in the vaqueous infusion. This oil lis wholly dissolved in water, communicating to it a mo st agreeable fragrance. This fragrance lisa factitious product produced by a certain amount .to my experiments, than 350OvFahrenheit nor greater than3750. Vhen roasted toa medium cinnamonbrown the fragrance is like that ofV It cannot Abe preserved in any vessel less porous than glass or earthen or-metal Ware. VIn all the preparations of coffee hithertoput up, the coffee once roasted, the pores being opened by the process, the aroma continues to escape till eventually none remains.

byv means of cementing material impervious to the air.

fee by extracting the aroma, and solublebut' nonfvolatile extract from theA ground and recombining the aroma and the extract and in- -sugar and milk, into adense and solid cake, lwhich can be handled by itselt' like a cake of Y chocolate or stick ot' candy and4 requires no box or lcan to protect it from the atmosphere.

The article prepared by me has the following advantages over otheripreparations before 'the public.

,First. The cake-,coii'ee is a perfectly-uniform article,n`ever varying in its proportion of ingredients or in its strength.

Second. It is prepared 1n onennznnte bychipping a half-ounce of the cake into a half-pint 'of' boiling water, and itis ready to drink, the. cake-being entirely solublei-n hot or cold water.

Third. `It is dry and solid. Being hard at each pressing) so longas the taste or color Tubes a anda may be used for inserting a That which renders coffee delicious as a drink i ot' torrefacton, by a heat not less, according `the delicate mi gnonette and as volatile as ether.

Whether the. coffee be kept in the beanorin the ground state i Pthe result is the same unless it be preserved in air-tightvesselsor be pressed into solid cakes I have discovered a means of preparin geofcorporating the same with sugar only, or with article weighs eighty-six pounds.

2 emacs the coi'ee, it is by no means indispensable, as

.either makes a very desirable drink.

Fifth. As this coffee was invented for the use of the army and navy, to aid the soldier and sailor in situations of exposure, where coffee as ordinarily prepared could not be procured, and

often where neither hot nor cold water can be had, then the soldier or sailor inthe heat of battle or the soldier in the midst of a weary march or watching may withdraw his dry coffee-cake from his knapsack or pocket and chew and swallow a half-ounce of the cake, which will mix with and melt in the saliva ot the mouth without any drink whatever, and is equivalent as a restorative to the system to a half-pint of strong coffee.

Sixth. Itis well known to physicians that coffee suspends digestion and thus becomes the means of temporary relief from hunger; and this cake taken in the dry state at the hour of the usualmeal, and, instead ofthe said meal, will sustain the body for three or four extra hours without the inconvenience of hunger equally well with codee prepared in the usual way.

Seventh. In transportation the codec-cake saves seven-tenths of the weight of the colee and one-half of the bulk of the coi'ee and sugar together. This cake is therefore especially vadapted to the wants of the army and navy, where reduction of bulk and of weight are important considerations. A cubic foot of this The process for the cake-co'eeis substantially in the following manner: Into a suitable still or boiler, A, arranged to discharge the vapors into a suitable condenser, B, both being of copper, is poured as much fine-ground coii'ee as can be'conveniently boiled, and the mass is covered with water enough to iloat the codecsay two and one-half gallons to ve pounds of coffee-and the contents boiled steadily for two hours. The vapors are discharged from the boiler through the liquid and at or near the bottom of the iirst condenser, which retains the vcondensed vapor o f water at the temperature of, say, 180O to 2000 Fahrenheit. The aroma of the co'ee which is not condensed at the abovenamed temperatures of the irst condenser passes on into the second condenser, which is kept at a temperature not lower than 750 nor higher than 850 If this experiment has been conducted carefully, nearly all the steainof water is condensed iny the iirst condenser, and nearly all ofthe vapor of the coee aroma is condensed in tbe second condenser. It is proper here to say that thetemperature of the two condensers must be maintained throughout the operations uniformly, as hereinafter directed. Now, although most of the vapor of water will be condensed in the first condenser when kept at any temperature between 1800 and2000, still the temperature which condenses most steam and least aroma is 1950,/or lliereabout and although nearly all of the volatile aroma of coffee will be condensed in the second' condenser at 850 and at any degree down to 750, or even lower, still the temperature which I regard as producing the best resultis 850, for it' the telnperature of the second condenser be below 800 there will be condensed with the said aroma a quantity of pyrogenous hydrocarbons, which communicate tothe aroma a burnt davor d`isagreeable to the taste, to obviate which the secmany months of unremitting laborand thou' sands of dollars of expense, though the facts whenlstated appear so plain and simple.v

The invention therefore does not consist in learning the fact that steam is condensed at 185 or 1950, or that the aroma of coli'ee is condensed at 850. Each asa separate fact may have been known before, but it was never known thatthese two facts could be so arranged and combined as to separate the aroma of coffee from the vapor of water in-such manner that the vformer may be deposited in the second condenser, while the latter is deposited in the first condenser. What is therefore the subject of claim in this part of the invention is separating the aroma or volatile oil of coffee from the watery vapor by condensing the water in one condenser and the coffee-aroma in another.

Having boiled the cofee about two hours and collected the condensed water with a little aroma in the first condenser and the e011-,

centrated aroma in the second condenser the coft'eegrounds and liquor of the boiler are discharged into a lcanvas bag or its equivalent and pressedl to remove the infusion of coffee contained therein, and the infusion is boiled rapidly down to the consistence of molasses in a suitable copper pan or kettle over a brisk re, or in any other suitable boiler, accompanied with agitationto keep down` the heat.

Instead of the press a centrifugal sugar-draining machine Well known to sugar-refiners may be used. As soon as the proper consistence of the extract has been reached the extract is removed toa steam or water bath kettle, where the heat shall not exceed that of boiling water, and for every eight pounds of coee used thirteen to sixteen pounds of -dry pulverized sugar are added and the mixture thoroughlyincorporated in any convenient way. At the same time that the extract and sugar are be ing incorporated a pound or so of the sugar is laid aside for absorbing into it the contents of second condenser. These being thoroughly commingled with the rest ot' the sugar into a homogeneous mass are rolled out into a. iiattened cake on a table between rollers with a traveling apron or pressed into molds, using p -a half-pint of strong coiee.

worked with rollers, it may be cut into cakes of a given size, represen tin gponuds and ounces,

a half-ounce of which is snliicient to make Where this is to be exposed to damp air the sugar would become damp,as in an army tent, and some coat-V in g as `gum-arabic, dcxtrine, starch, coeoa-but- A ter, or other equivalent vapor-proof coating maybe used. In some instances I have mixed lille protecting material with the composition; .In eases where milk is used I eitherzpnrchase that furnished by the market or concentrate pure milk to the eonsistence of molasses, and

add a quart ot' such condensed milk to ten or twelve pounds of the cofteetand sugar mixtnre.` It is added in the following manner: lVllen the entice-infusion is concentrated nearly to the molasses state the amount ot milk to be mixed is poured into the semi-fluid extract, and the two thoroughly mingled and concentrated to a thin, pasly mass, when the sugar is added, as before directed. When milk is used in the composition no other protecting material is required, except that the surface may be frosted with sugar. There are concentrs'itedniilks in the market inwhich two or lonr gallons'are concentrated into one. `This also has the effect to harden't-he mass.

Havingdeseribed the nature of the inventionA andthe method of using the same, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Separating the aroma or volatile oilof coffee from the Wateryyapor, substantiallyin the manner and for theppurpose herein set forth.

2.4 The combination of the aroma with the soluble non-volatile parts ofthe co'ee preparatory to making the same intota solid cake, snbstantiallyin `the manner and-for the purpose set forth. t

3. A dense and solid cake-coffee that can be handled by itself like'cakes of chocolate or sticks of candy, without the aid and expense of boxes or cans, which are indispensable in all that'class of preparations called coffee-paste and coleeextract.

L. D'. GALE.

Witnesses:

ELIZA G. GALE, C. G. ALLEN. 

